


The tale of the beast tamer

by ravenclaw_dumbass



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:22:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27883714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravenclaw_dumbass/pseuds/ravenclaw_dumbass
Summary: “Our village is plagued by a looming threat. The beast that lives far into the woods, a beast of such menace who has no appreciation for mankind’s creations. It knows no compassion ,no mercy ,only destruction. Its never ending hunger leads it to attack. It ruins our crops, it stomps over our buildings, it devours our people and it will until the end of time. That is unless someone shows it something truly beautiful. Something that will convince it that humanity has something to offer and that we shouldn’t be destroyed. Then, and only then, it’ll stop its relentless attacks.”
Kudos: 1





	The tale of the beast tamer

“Our village is plagued by a looming threat. The beast that lives far into the woods, a beast of such menace who has no appreciation for mankind’s creations. It knows no compassion ,no mercy ,only destruction. Its never ending hunger leads it to attack. It ruins our crops, it stomps over our buildings, it devours our people and it will until the end of time. That is unless someone shows it something truly beautiful. Something that will convince it that humanity has something to offer and that we shouldn’t be destroyed. Then, and only then, it’ll stop its relentless attacks.”

“Sadly, no one has managed to do that.We’ve shown it the finest paintings, the sturdiest tools, the prettiest flowers, the tastiest treats but they weren’t enough.”

One of the village’s elders was telling the local kids of the danger they faced everyday and the legend of how it could end.

“Nothing ever has.” said bitterly one of the kids’ parents  
“the monster will never stop, that's just a myth to make us all feel better.” they whispered to another parent.

Suddenly, a person no one had noticed was there spoke up.  
“No” said the mysterious figure with certainty and vanished before anyone could make out who they were.

The man that had spoken up walked outside mad at the village’s people for not noticing that the monster did not attack every day. Mad at them for never even thinking about the peacefull months they had and instead focusing on the seconds of destruction. He’d known for a long time that his efforts would never be appreciated but it was still frustrating. 

Even so, he turned to the forest, walking along a now well known to him path. After a few minutes he arrived at the beast’s cave. It had been five years since he’d started doing this but he was still terrified of the beast. He went inside.

He looked at the beast, took a deep breath and started talking. He recounted how the baker had given some orphans that looked to be starving a loaf of bread he hadn’t managed to sell. He talked about how some ladies comforted a woman whose house had been broken into. He retold the fun stories he heard his neighbors tell their children when they had nightmares. He went on and on about the little acts of kindness he saw on the street every day, the true beauty of mankind.

As the years went by, following the narrow path into the deep of the forest ,where the beast’s cave was, became routine. There were times when he failed, times when the monster would wreak havoc at the village’s people, but aside from those everything went smoothly while he grew older.

On his way to the forest he overheard a group of little kids talking amongst themselves.  
“Wait so if the beast is so powerful and hungry why hasn’t it attacked in months?” asked a little girl.  
“You want the beast to attack more? Why ask questions like that?” said some of the others exasperated.  
“Why do we not talk about the times the beast doesn't come? if it's so bloodthirsty and hungry and unbeatable why are there months where we don't see it?" the girl continued.  
“Stop saying that stuff, it's bad luck! Do you want us to be attacked?” they screamed at her.  
“It’s not like that! I just wanted to know because it doesn’t make any sense!” exclaimed the girl with tears in her eyes and stormed off.

He didn’t have to search much to find her. She was playing with a bunch of little rocks, seemingly unaffected by what had just happened. He looked at the girl. He looked at the only person who he’s ever seen ask the right questions and couldn’t stand leaving her wondering. Knowing she probably wouldn’t believe him he told her about his responsibility. She let him talk without interrupting, just listened.  
“I believe you.” she said once he was finished. He looked at her in surprise. The little girl turned around and left.

After a couple of uneventful weeks something happened. He was sitting in a bar, talking to the local doctor and everything seemed normal until- A blood chilling cry was heard in the distance. He ran out to see what was happening. Outside of a nearby house was a woman screaming that her husband was having a heart attack and that he needed a doctor. After a few minutes passed the doctor came out of the bar and walked into the house. He came out of the house a few moments later and announced that he was unable to save the man. 

He looked disgusted at the doctor knowing for a fact that if the doctor had gone to help when he first heard the scream and not waited until he was sure it was an emergency he could have gotten there in time to save the dead man's life.

He was angry. In fact he was so angry that he didn't realize what was bound to happen until he heard the dead man's children screaming in horror upon seeing the corpse of their father. The beast. His mind raced ‘No no no no’ he thought frantically. ‘These people are innocent they cannot die I won’t let them’. As he was searching for the piece of parchment on which he wrote his offerings to the beast an intrusive thought snuck its way into his mind ‘Are they really innocent though?” it seemed to ask.

He stopped.

He looked up and he noticed how nobody was comforting the dead man's family. Instead, some of the village's men were talking about taking his 15 year old daughter's hand in mariage or just rape her since she had no protection from a man now. The craftsmen were trying to get the dead man's 9 year old son to work for them. And finally, the women of the village were making up rumors and whispering amongst themselves about how the wife was at fault for her husband’s death and how she probably didn’t clean the house enough or didn’t feed him enough.

Did these people really deserve to live? Were there acts of kindness to be found here anymore?

He looked at where he knew the monster was hiding  
"I see you've come to agree with me" its voice boomed in his head.  
He nodded.  
He had no faith for humanity anymore.They would all die and they deserved it.Even he did.He'd allowed this to happen. He could have forced the doctor to come outside ,could have tried to help, could have done something. But he didn’t. He had never hated himself and all of humanity more.

The monster came out of its hiding and the village's people screamed. Then- The little girl walked up to the monster and started talking.The village looked at her and some saw a little girl not knowing how dangerous the monster she was facing was, babbling happily ,unaware of her imminent death. Some saw a sad and desperate little girl uselessly pleading with a creature that knew no empathy.  
But nobody except the man actually listened to what she said.

"Monster,” she said “please stop and look at these people.  
Look at this woman whose husband has died yet her only priority is her chirlderns’ safety.  
Look at these kids ready to do anything to support their mother.  
And finally look at these people” -she pointed to a group of people of all ages trying to comfort and shield the grieving family that the man hadn't even noticed because of all the awful people surrounding them- "comforting this broken family when nobody else will."  
"These people are the reason humankind can, has to and will do better.  
So please, let us live and let us try to be better."

The girl finished and he felt the monster's voice in his head again, only this time it wasn't talking to him.  
"Very well. I will retreat for now" the monster said. It then turned to the man and he could feel it laugh. It laughed, not the menacing cackle a beast would laugh while destroying everything it saw, but a warm and raspy chuckle that an old person would break into when they saw a heartwarming, yet slightly amusing situation.  
"I see someone is ready to show us both the good in this world.” said the monster.  
“Whether she is fit to take your place is your call to make.” it added and retreaded into the forest.

The village looked in shock, the beast was gone."Did this little girl- how?"all that was heard was a muter until-  
“WITCH” shouted someone.  
"witch!" said teasingly the kids.  
"WITCH" yelled aggressively some men.  
"witch" hissed some women.  
"witch" murmured warily the town elders. The word got repeated until everyone believed it.

He moved before he could second guess himself, standing protectively in front of the little girl.  
"This girl is no witch. She is my apprentice, whom I have trained in the taming of wild animals. She just saved your lives from that bear."  
"Bear?" asked some kids confused.  
"Bear." said some men actually fooled into not believing their own eyes.  
"Bear..." repeated the people who didn't want to seem crazy.  
"Bear" said disapprovingly some women scolding their kids for ever believing there was a monster.  
"Bear." said reassuringly the town elders.  
The word was repeated until everyone believed it.

The beast had been there but if the man knew something it was that people would rather believe their eyes betrayed them than believe anything that challenged their view of the beast, the little girl and the world in general.

He turned to the little girl.  
"Thank you" they said at the same time.  
"I'm ready to take your place" said the girl.  
"Are you sure? You'll have to visit the beast every day with a new reason why humanity is worth existing. It's going to be hard." he knew that all too well.  
The girl had a fierce look of determination in her eyes while she exclaimed "I’m sure."  
"I’ve already started writing acts of kindness down!” she added, clearly excited about her new role and gave him a piece of parchment. The first thing written there was ‘my teacher protected me when the village called me a witch’. And if the man teared up a bit when he read it, the girl didn’t say a thing.

The next day the man took the girl to the forest and showed her where the beast was. After she’d told the beast enough for it not to attack, it pulled the man aside.  
"Protect her" the beast said to the man.  
"I will" said the man, his eyes shining with the same fierce determination as the girl's were when she took on the role.

After that day the beast tamer became a role secret to all but a few people. Passed from generation to generation, a person already hurt by humanity -orphaned , raped, denied, left behind- who believes in mankind enough so they can see the small acts of kindness happening every day. None of the beast tamers are ever related by blood, but funnily enough, all of them became parental figures to and some even adopted their successors.

**Author's Note:**

> This is just an idea I had that I wanted to write. Hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
